Dannon Co. is being for claiming that some of its yogurts provide a health benefit that other yogurts do not. A proposed class action suit was filed on Wednesday in California’s Los Angeles federal court accusing Dannon of falsely advertising its Activia, Activia Lite, and DanActive products. The suit claims Dannon initiated a massive false advertising campaign in order to convince consumers to pay more for yogurt containing probiotic bacteria.
Probiotic is a term that means “for life.” The human intestinal tract is filled with a huge amount of helpful, probiotic bacteria, which is a good thing since the human body is designed to have symbiotic relationships with probiotic bacteria which assist in digestion and destroy harmful microorganisms. Science indicates that as the body ages, the intestinal tract becomes more rigid at only accepting intestinal flora it recognizes; it is difficult for body to recognize or tolerate new good bacteria. Also, good bacteria decrease; therefore, it is important to supplement with probiotics, initiating this process early on in life.
Anecdotal evidence suggests friendly bacteria help a variety of digestive problems; however, in the U.S., no health claims for probiotics have been approved. The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization defines probiotics as live microorganisms…which confer a beneficial health effect on the host. In other words, for bacteria to be considered a probiotic, it must be beneficial to humans. As a result, if food manufacturers label a food as containing probiotics, the benefits must be proven by research.
The lawsuit against Dannon alleges that Dannon’s own studies failed to support its advertised claims that its Activia, Activia Lite and DanActive were “clinically” and “scientifically” “proven” to have health benefits that other yogurts did not. The suit seeks reimbursement for all U.S. purchasers of Activia, Activia Lite and DanActive and demands Dannon correct their advertising campaign. According to Dannon spokesman Michael Neuwirth, Dannon is unaware of the lawsuit maintains “the claims of our products and the clinical studies which support them.”
Dannon Co, a unit of France’s Groupe Danone has relied on Activia and DanActive to help boost its U.S. yogurt business. Activia, launched in the U.S. in 2006; DanActive, in 2007. Both are expected to account for at least 40 percent of the company’s U.S. yogurt business in 2008, Juan Carlo Dalto, Dannon chief executive, told Reuters in November. Activia’s packaging says it contains “bifidus regularis,” which “helps naturally regulate your digestive system.” Dannon has claimed that its dairy drink DanActive “has been clinically proven to help naturally strengthen the body’s defenses when consumed daily,” the lawsuit said. The lawsuit also claims Dannon has spent “far more than $100 million” to convey deceptive messages to U.S. consumers while charging 30 percent more that other yogurt products. The lawsuit also cited scientific reports showing, counter to Dannon’s advertising, that there was no conclusive evidence that the bacteria prevented illness or was beneficial to healthy adults and that Dannon knew this. The ads helped Dannon sell hundreds of millions of dollars of ordinary yogurt at inflated prices, plaintiffs’ attorney Timothy Blood of Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins said.
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September 18th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
I buy Activia, it’s only $1.98 for a 4 pack at Krogers when you get it on sale. This is another way for someone to “get rich quick”. One of the problems with our country is everybody not respecting others and ready to sue as soon as they get their feelings hurt or find out a falsehood, we have all lied before and for our oun benifit or profit. Yogurt is good for you, no one was hurt or killed, so you spent a few more dollers. We all at sometime or another spend more on someting we think works better, looks better, sounds better…ect. We as Americans should be ashamed at the levels we stoop to and manipulate the system to sue each other.
There are life altering circumstances of negligance and blatent acts of harm, hurt,crime and wrongdoing that suing should limited to. Because you ate pricey yogurt and someone told a fib, shame on you. Nobody twisted your arm and made you buy it. We should thank God it wasn’t tainted with samonila or something worse. We really don’t have to worry about other countries doing us harm because we are self destructing. If they would leave us alone we will do the job for them. God help us all!
September 18th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Hello, i would like to receive some information on the class action law suit against Activia.If possible ,if you can email me any paperwork that needs to be filled out, that would be very helpful. Thank you for your time.
Nicole Leroux
September 21st, 2009 at 9:30 am
I HAVE BOUGHT DANNON ACTIVIA AND WOULD LIKE MY 100 $ RETURNED TO ME FOR FALSE ADVERTISEMENT. WHY DO YOU ONLY HAVE A RECORDING AT YOUR PHONE # for DANNON?
September 22nd, 2009 at 6:27 am
this is in response to the dannon yogurt claim. I bought the dan-active product each week in 2006 and 2007. I was instrumental in getting my friends on board with it, also. I believed the advertisement was true and working in an elementary school we needed all the help available to keep healthy. I would like information on filing a claim.
September 22nd, 2009 at 9:05 am
I have been purchasing Dannon Activa for the past 3 months now and consume about 2 8 pack a week because I thought that the yogurt would help my irritable bowel syndrome symptoms. The first month of me trying to get used to eating yogurt was just nasty because I do not like yogurt, its stongly sour and I’ve not been a fan of it. But after seeing so much of Jamie Lee Curtis advertising how well it works I thought I’d give it a try. For the first few weeks it gave me a lot of gas and I spent more time than I ever did in the bathroom. I’m a bit milk intolerant and try not to eat milk products but thought this may help me. Well now I’m angry to hear the news that the yogurt I’ve been forcing myself to eat may not be helping me at all! Thanks Dannon, hope it was worth it.
Angie Drugmand Springfield, OH
September 24th, 2009 at 6:37 am
I have severe IBS and my doctors had taken me off daily intake years ago. I started buying Activia yogurt because the commercial stated it would help you have a healthy digestive system. Even though it hurt my system, I still ate it at night before bed, so that I wouldn’t feel the cramping, hoping it would have the results that they stated in the commercials. I was really disappointed when I found out that it was no different than any other yourt and stopped buying it.
September 25th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
we bought lots of activa in the past year.how do we go about getting in on thatlawsuit? thanks laurie unger
September 29th, 2009 at 11:25 am
I also fell for this con. I made sure I ate Dannon Activia every single day and still nothing change with my digestive system. Please send my information regarding the lawsuit.
October 14th, 2009 at 9:07 am
I too have been purchasing Dannon Activia thinking it would work on the bloating feeling and that it was more healthy for your stomach because of the additives it claimed helped certain conditions. I think its outragous that we continue to be mislead by corporations in the food industry that are only out to make a hugh profit on faulty products. Talk about coporate greed. Need more controls over our food supply. What is the Food & Drug administration doing??????